I really like messenger bags for quick trips to the grocery store, library, or coffee shop when I’m just carrying a few small items. They’re convenient and quick, and I almost always have one hanging near the door to grab on the way out when needed.

On the other hand, for commuting, weekly shopping excursions, or any trip that involves transporting a larger quantity of heavier items, I prefer to carry the load on the bike. For smaller commuting loads I carry everything in a single rear convertible pannier such as an Arkel Bug or Ortlieb Downtown. For even larger loads, I prefer to balance the weight between a pair of rear panniers and a front porteur rack.

How about you? Do you carry your commute load in a messenger bag or backpack, or do you prefer to carry the load on the bike?

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Black Rose Bags is a worker-owned collective specializing in custom, handmade bike bags created from recovered materials. They recently sent us a “Steam Punk” style messenger bag to try out. Our review bag measures 5″ x 11″ x 13″ and features two pockets, a brass key clip, seat belt style latch, leather flap closures, padded strap with stabilizer strap, and a cool brass-coated connector cog. It’s a beautifully constructed bag made from canvas, copper, leather, brass, and a tiny bit of nylon and plastic. The detailing and fit-and-finish are top-notch; this bag is tough, attractive, and simply a joy to use. Black Rose bags are made-to-order, so the prices vary a bit, but most are in the $149-$169 price range. We could go on raving about this bag, but we’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Black Rose Bags →
Black Rose Bags @ Etsy →
Black Rose Bags @ Flickr →

Boulder, CO is one of this country’s most bike-friendly cities, being one of only three to garner the coveted “Platinum” rating on the League of American Bicyclists “Bicycle Friendly Communities” list. To add to their already excellent programs, Boulder will be rolling out a B-Cycle bike-sharing program this spring. From the Boulder B-Cycle website:

To start, the program will feature 200 bikes and 25 stations spread throughout the area, with hopes of growing the service in the future. Memberships will run $5 per day or $50 per year. Boulder memberships can also be used with Denver’s B-Cycle program.

Boulder B-Cycle →
[via The Bike-Sharing Blog]

The fog finally lifted today and Mother Nature put on a spectacular light show. Sorry, but you just can’t experience this from behind the wheel of a car stuck in a traffic jam. Captured during this evening’s commute…

I’m fortunate enough to have a secure bike locker at both the train station near my home and in a parking garage near where I work. Having secure bike storage significantly increases my commuting options while allowing me to ride nicer bikes on my commute. In both cases, the bike lockers are managed by the cities in which they reside. On one end of my commute, the locker is free (a $25 refundable deposit is required for the key), on the other, there’s a $5 per month charge. In both cases, I’m thankful that such a service is available.

Unfortunately, there are not enough lockers to accommodate all of the bike commuters who want one. In one city, 49 lockers (at the cost of approximately $50,000) are spread among a handful of transit stations and local employers. Unfortunately, only 12 of those lockers are available to the general public, with the other 37 being provided to 5 of the largest employers in the area for use by their employees. There is always a waiting list for the public lockers and we could easily triple the number available for public use. Perhaps the companies who received free lockers could subsidize a few more for the general public!

The city at the other end of my commute has an undisclosed number of lockers and “bullpens” available for public use for a nominal fee (bullpens are secure, fenced bike parking areas that are shared among a number of users). As I mentioned above, fees run approximately $5 per month. The lockers and bullpens are spread among 7 parking garages throughout the downtown area. Like in the other city, there is a perennial waiting list for these lockers. At my work alone, there seems to always be at least one or two people waiting for a spot; I can only imagine how long the list might be for the entire city.

Do you have bike lockers in your city? Are there enough to accommodate everyone who wants one or do you need more? If your city doesn’t currently provide secure bike parking, would it be beneficial to you if they made it available in the future?

Besides accessing EcoVelo by a direct link from your bookmarks, you can also follow our updates via our e-mail notification system, our RSS feeds, our Twitter feed, and our Facebook page. We also upload many of our photos to Flickr, and we host a Flickr group for people interested in bikes used for transportation. If all of that wasn’t enough, we’ve just added a Tumblr site for our readers who also blog at Tumblr. We were seeing an increasing amount of our content showing up on Tumblr, so we figured we’d join in the fun and start our own Tumblr site. We’ll be mostly using it to post new photos with links backs to current articles; in other words, it won’t replace our other channels, but it will make it easier for our readers who use Tumblr to reblog our posts if they’d like.

EcoVelo@Tumblr →

With the popularity of European-style commuting bikes on the rise here in the U.S., the average weight of a typical transpo bike is also on the rise. U.S.-style hybrids, mountain bikes, and touring bikes, all commonly used for commuting here, averagely weigh in the 30-35 lb. range (for example, my fully outfitted Surly Long Haul Trucker weighs 32 lbs. with front and rear racks, kickstand, fenders, and lights). On the other hand, many traditional Euro-style city bikes tip the scales at 40-50 lbs. or more. This extra 10-15 lbs. is largely inconsequential for those who have point-to-point commutes over relatively flat terrain, but it can be a real problem for those who take their bike on transit as part of their commute.

Here’s a case in point. A friend purchased a Dutch city bike to use as her primary commuter. She liked the upright seating position, internal gears and brakes, full chain case, integrated lighting, and overall style of this type of bike. It’s a lovely bike that appeared to be perfect for her intended use. It was a little difficult to hoist onto the train, but she parked the bike in the aisle and all was good—for a while. Eventually, the conductors tired of too many bikes in the aisles (it’s a safety hazard) and they started making everyone place their bikes in the vertical wall racks. As it turns out, the bike is too heavy for her to hoist onto the racks, so now she’s looking at lighter weight alternatives.

Commuters and utility bicyclists are rarely accused of being “weight-weenies”; afterall, a 30+ lb. bike is anything but “light” by today’s standards. But, there are some circumstances where excess weight can be a real hindrance, even to the point that an otherwise perfectly matched bike becomes a mis-match for its intended use. So while we aren’t ready to start counting grams any time soon, it does behoove multi-modal bike commuters to keep an eye on overall weight when outfitting a bike that will be taken on trains and buses.

None of this is a dig at Euro/Dutch-style bikes. They’re wonderfully appointed and make perfect commuter/utility bikes for many people. They’ve been refined over many decades in some of the most bike-friendly countries in the world, and their functionality transfers well to many U.S. cities. They do tend to be heavy though, and since there’s a trend in commuting and transpo circles to show little-to-no regard to weight, it’s not a bad idea to remember that a bike can be so heavy as to severely hinder its functionality in a least some circumstances.